50 Issues Down: Ron Marz on His Witchblade Run to Date

Artist Stjepan Sejic's design for Sara during 'War of the Witchblades'

In today’s market, you can count he number of creators that stay on a
series longer than a year on one hand. While some of feat is being
achieved on some of the industry’s bigger books, there’s a creator
who’s been quietly plugging away on a series that doesn’t always get
the lion’s share of attention. We’re talking, of course, about Ron Marz
on Witchblade.

Marz has said all along that he’s committed to the Top Cow series
through at least issue #150 – and that’s saying something, given that
the writer began on the tale of Sara Pezzini and her gauntlet with
issue #80.

He’s hit the 50 issue mark, and we caught up with him to talk about it.

Newsarama: Ron, first off, congratulations on finishing the writing for 50 consecutive full issues of Witchblade.
Not many comic book writers are allowed or able to accomplish such an
extensive run on a single title nowadays. Did you sign on to writing Witchblade thinking that you’d still be working on the series today?

Ron Marz: Thanks. I truthfully didn’t even realize I had hit 50
in a row until Top Cow’s publisher, Filip Sablik, congratulated me on
it. I kind of said, “Uh … what? Oh yeah, I guess that is 50.”
Whenever I sign on to an ongoing title, my plan is to run with it as
long as I can, as long as I feel like I have stories to tell. Sometimes
that amounts to a year of issues, sometimes it turns out to be
substantially longer. I’ve been fortunate enough to have had three runs
of at least 50 issues now, with Silver Surfer and Green Lantern being the other two.

Artist Stjepan Sejic's design for Sara during 'War of the Witchblades'

NRAMA: So what attracted you to the book and Sara Pezzini’s
character when you first began writing it? More importantly, what did
you first set out to change?

RM: In all honestly, when was offered the book, I hadn’t read
more than an issue here and there, if that. So I can’t tell you
anything specific I set out to change. I was more concerned with
providing a character that readers could care about, and a way into the
story for new readers. I wanted people to care about what happened to
Sara, not wonder what happened to Sara’s clothes. So the first thing
that went out the window was the “metal bikini” look for the Witchblade
itself. Mike Choi started drawing the book when I began writing it, and
we both agreed that the Witchblade should make sense as a warrior’s
armor and weapon, rather than looking like something you could buy at
Victoria’s Secret.

Everything was about putting the emphasis on Sara as a character,
rather than Sara as a pin-up. My mindset was that Sara’s life and her
role as an NYPD detective should be interesting enough to keep your
attention even without the Witchblade. Yes, we’ll do sexy stuff on
occasion when it’s part of the story, and some of the covers tend to
push the cheesecake element. But what’s between the covers is a
supernatural crime story, not something that panders to hormonal
14-year-olds.

NRAMA: For better or for worse, what has been the change of the
fan perception of the series and who Sara Pezzini is as a character
since you took over the writing duties?

RM: Well, I guess fan perception is really a question you have
to ask the fans. I know our readers get it. The people who are reading
the book understand what kind of book we’re doing. People who don’t
bother to look past the cover are probably still laboring under a
reception that’s at least a decade old.

It’s funny, prior to Stjepan we’ve had some artists come in and do
fill-in or one-shot issues, and we’ll usually send them a stack of
recent issues. I’ve had a number of those artists get in touch with me
and say, “Wow, this isn’t anything like I thought it was.” So even
people in the industry still have a misperception of what the book is.
It’s something you have to change literally one reader at a time.

NRAMA: What are some of your proudest moments from the last 50 issues of Witchblade?

RM: I’m happy we were finally able to give the Witchblade an
origin that makes sense, which happened in issue #92, with the help of
an all-star array of artists like Marc Silvestri, George Perez, Brandon
Peterson and a bunch of others. Working with Chris Bachalo on a very
creepy standalone issue for #87 was a treat. I’m pleased that we had
the balls to let Sara have a baby and not cop out with any half-assed
comic clichés, like having the baby miraculously grow to a teenager in
a month. I think we’ve played the whole baby thing pretty straight.

NRAMA: And of course, the other side of the coin - anything you wish you could go back and tinker with?

RM: Sure, there’s always something I’d like to go back and
tweak. I would’ve liked an extra issue for a storyline here or there,
because some of them feel a little too compressed. But I’d rather err
on the side of cramming in too much story than not enough. Ultimately,
though, looking back is not the nature of doing a monthly book. You’ve
got to worry about making the next issue better, you can’t spend time
worrying about the previous issues.

NRAMA: With 50 issues down and another twenty to go for your proposed tenure to write Witchblade until at least issue #150, what else should fans be expecting from the series?

RM: In an overall sense, more of the same, in that we’re going
to keep doing character-driven stories that have one foot in the real
world and one foot in a darker reality. But in more specific terms, the
last thing we want to do is more of the same, because that’s
what you get from way too many comics already. Most comics just keep
plowing the same ground, giving readers a steady diet of what’s
familiar instead of challenging them with something new. Comics should
be like sharks – they have to keep moving forward, or they die. I’d
like to think Witchblade keeps evolving instead of repeating.

NRAMA: Has the work produced by the various artists working on
the series prompted you to change a plotline or your scripting in any
way?

RM: Sure, I think any writer worth his salt should play to the
strengths of the artist. This is visual medium, so the writer’s job, in
addition to telling an intriguing story, is to help the artist find the
best way to visually tell that story. When Mike Choi was drawing the
book, he had a really great touch with acting and facial expressions,
the more subtle stuff that’s a lot harder to do than an action scene.
So I pushed the storytelling in that direction for Mike. With Stjepan
on the book now, one of his strengths is the epic stuff, real
widescreen, large-scale imagery, so I try to get in that stuff as often
as possible.

NRAMA: Speaking of him, current Witchblade artist Stjepan
Sejic will also be staying on the book through issue #150. Are there
any outstanding contributions Stjepan has made to the series that still
blow you away since he first became the regular series artist on issue
#116?

RM: At this point, Stjepan and I have more stories than could
possibly fit between now and issue #150, so all things considered, I
think we want to be around longer than that. Stjepan is a great
collaborator, because he’s an idea machine. He’s always tossing out
concepts and designs that we incorporate into the book. It’s a real
partnership, rather than an assembly-line process of “I write, you
draw.” I don’t think going for 100 issues in a row is out of the
question, as long as Top Cow will have me.

NRAMA: Fans know that the current “War of the Witchblades” arc
was planned over three years ago when Dani first appeared in the book
with issue #100. Without revealing anything, are there any other
seemingly minor supporting characters with grand roles ahead of them
who fans might want to keep an eye on?

RM: Yeah, well, the whole “without revealing anything” part is
the trick, isn’t it? Until issue #130 hits the stands, we’re not
revealing who ends up with the Witchblade, so I can’t say too much
about where we’re headed. But I can say that some of the supporting
characters who’ve been brought into the book recently, like Sara’s
sister Julie and Dani’s friend Finch, will be around for a while.

NRAMA: Jake McCarthy met a startling end early into your work on
the series, but his death paved the way for Detective Patrick Gleason
to become Sara’s new partner and romantic interest. After getting
maimed on several occasions while protecting Sara, it seems Gleason is
somewhat of a “marked man” lacking mystical gauntlets, superpowers and
whatnot. Does his destiny at all tie into the Thirteen Artifacts?

RM: Yeah, Gleason’s kind of suiting up for the NFL without a
helmet or pads. And yet he keeps going back out for more. One of the
reasons I like his character is that he puts a human face on the
stories. He doesn’t have a mystical gauntlet or superpowers, so he
provides a “one of us” point of view for the reader.

NRAMA: Can we expect any new characters to come along with the conclusion of the “War of the Withcblades” arc?

RM: Not new characters, per se, because that’s not really what
the arc is about. But we’ll definitely see some existing character is
new roles. I’m not going to tell you which character is going to have
which role. But the conclusion of the arc definitely gives us a new
beginning. Even after 50 issues, I feel like we’re just getting started.